Click the link to watch the presentation (pictures followed)
Reflection
My original plan was to interview several East Asian students at Wes who have tattoos. I posted an Instagram story (Picture 1) and got at least 10 replies. Some said they would like to be interviewed, and those who did not have tattoos introduced me to their friends who did have tattoos. Among more than 15 potential interviewees, I interviewed 8 people in person, and 2 online. I have the tattoos of 7 of them represented in the slides with my own tattoos.
I have noticed a very interesting thing: I couldn’t find any Japanese students with tattoos on campus.
Figure 1, The Instagram Post
I think one of the reasons might be that Japanese people treat tattoos more seriously because of the correlation between tattoos and yakuza in Japan. I know that China, Japan, and Korea all have regulations that entertainers should cover their tattoos if they want to be on TV. This regulation received the least discussion in Japan because not many entertainers in Japan have tattoos in conspicuous places, and people believe it is improper to have tattoos as public figures.
The other reason is that at Wes, there are much fewer Japanese or Japanese American students than Korean and Chinese students. Also, all the students from Japan on campus now are planning to go back to Japan after graduation. It wouldn’t be a very clever idea to have a tattoo since it will largely harm your chances of getting a job in Japan. I have been asked whether I had tattoos at many of the interviews I went for part-time jobs. Having a tattoo is sometimes called an impulsive action that people will definitely regret doing later. I have asked my interviewees how they think about this. The thoughtfulness they all expressed was very impressive.
Most of my interviewees mentioned that they always wanted to have a tattoo and have spent a long time finding the studio and waiting to fit the artist’s schedule. They have also anticipated their parents’ reaction and made plans about whether or not to tell them, and how to tell them. Xingyan surprised her parents while her family was recorded by a TV program.
My interviewees’ parents aren’t supportive but are “okay” with their tattoos, mainly because the tattoos are not in very “crazy places”, such as above the neck or on the hand, so they can be covered by clothes, and won’t largely affect their career plans. I have also noticed many interviewees have chosen to tattoo in places like the inner side of the arm, tricep, and rib so that they can keep the tattoos hidden from future employees and their parents. My interviewees with more “Asian” and conservative parents have shown more concerns towards their parents knowing they have gotten tattoos. Yunqi has had the tattoo for three years but still does not plan to tell her parents even though the tattoo is extremely meaningful to her and is very inconspicuous.
I talked with my father and my grandmother about my tattoo several months after getting it.
My grandmother was surprisingly supportive, and she even said my tattoos are beautiful.
When asked why she wasn’t against me being tattooed, she said that 1. They are beautiful tattoos with subtle colors, 2. I got tattooed to cover dog-bite scars. Actually, these are also the reasons why I, as someone who still gets scared by people with tattoos very often, decided to get tattoos.
I always thought a tattoo is something that well-behaved people, like me, will never have. Most of the tattoos I have seen were ugly green-black tattoos possessed by bully-like people. My understanding of tattoos started to change when I was 16 and read a Vice China article about a tattoo artist who designs cartoon tattoos. Their colors were so bright and vivid that they didn’t look like tattoos. I started to appreciate how beautiful tattoos can be.
I still didn’t want to be tattooed because tattoos are scars, and I feel that it is unnecessary to add scars and wounds to your body. Many of my interviewees mentioned that they always want to get a tattoo, and I had the same thought after reading the article about the cartoon tattoo. But thinking about the possibility doesn’t always lead to taking action.
Nevertheless, if you already have scars on your body, the situation can be very different. I feel that compared to any of my interviewees, I am the least qualified to talk about tattoos because the reason why I have tattoos is different from everyone else’s.
I was bitten by my son (dog) right before my 18th birthday, and four scars are left on my right arm since that time. Every time I noticed them, I would think about how ugly they are. At first, I planned to do scarification so that they can be covered by the patterns. I first learned the word scarification in another Vice China article featuring the Chinese tattoo artist Xiaoai who works in Shinjuku, Tokyo. I think scarification is just another kind of tattoo. In Chinese it is called “割皮纹身” and in Japanese, it is “瘢痕文身”. “文” in ancient Chinese means decorating. The Chinese word for tattoo is “文身”. I think writing sanctification in Chinese characters can better show the similarity between it and the ink tattoo- either way is leaving permanent a permanent mark on someone’s body.
I ended up getting white tattoos, which look exactly like the scars left by scarification because I felt if my tattoo artist messed up, I could later have another tattoo or scarification covering the previous one. Also, the wound caused by scarification takes almost a year to heal and I didn’t think I was very prepared for that.
By coincidence, the tattoo studio I chose was also in Shinjuku. I was very annoyed by the Ojisan, the tattoo artist’s father, at the reception because he kept using tamego to me. Weirdly, he was the only barrier I have met on my journey to get tattoos. He first said that it was extremely hard to tattoo the scars and later he said Chinese people’s skin is deeper than Japanese and Korean people (which cannot be proved scientifically) so I should be fine. Then he started to say the white tattoo might fade or turn yellow very quickly, since I was going to study in the United States, he encouraged me to have more wild colors like black or red. When I said I want the ume to be green, he showed strong disagreement. He said it will look like vegetables and I would definitely regret it in the future. Finally, I convinced him green ume actually exists in nature, so he helped me schedule the appointment.
Figure 2: Chat history between the Ojisan and me (I convinced him green plume exists in nature, so finally he agreed to let me have my tattoos in green)
It turns out that the tattoo artist was a very nice person. I am very satisfied with my tattoos.
I read the article about Xiaoai again for this project. She said that 90% of her customers for the scarification were girls who wanted to cover their scars. She didn’t ask the customers about their stories, but from the pictures she posted, I would see that all the scars were from cutting wrists multiple times. I then started to understand why people call getting tattoos a rebirth. The scar is covered by the tattoo pattern—when they see their wrists, the first thing they see will be the tattoo, which is always beautiful flowers, instead of scars. I believe this somewhat empowers people, giving them the confidence to overcome whatever they have suffered.
Figure 3: Xiaoai’s tattoo art, a sakura flower on the cutting scars. Picture from *6
Xiaoai said “my customers want to make something of their own in the wound and let it accompany them on their life journey. It will be the only mark that belongs to them and is integrated with their bodies. After they have had the scarification, they will not be able to bear to hurt the wound with a knife again, as they all say.”
I cannot agree more with this. Now when I glance at my wrist, instead of the scars, I see the flowers. When designing the pattern with the artist, I said I do not want the scars to be fully covered by the pattern, I want them to become a part of the pattern. I like what it symbolizes: you cannot remove the scars or forget about the past, but they can be a part of a better you in the future if you change your perspective. If you want to achieve reconciliation with yourself, you have to find a way to deal with your past. I also see how my friends are trying to accept their imperfectness from Serina’s first tattoo about using substances, Yunqi’s only tattoo about heart disease, and Noelle’s favorite about the loss of a loved one.
All of my interviewees and I have gotten our first tattoo before turning 20, as a kind of a ceremony to enter adulthood. This reminds me that in the very early stage of Chinese history, tattooing was a part of the coming-to-age ceremony for many ethnic minorities. The young adults got tattooed to show that they could bear the physical pain caused by tattooing.
Contemporarily, I feel that my interviewees get tattoos right after 18 because they want to prove that they are ready to take responsibility and accountability for getting a tattoo and all the choices they are going to make in the future.
Contrary to what people may think (young people who have tattoos have never considered the consequences), my interviewees use tattoos to show their thoughtfulness by tattooing about their future life. I even feel that for some people, showing the responsibility for the consequence of having a tattoo outweighs the tattoo itself, and it becomes the actual reason why they decided to get tattooed.
I have to admit that I am the only person among all the participants who have ever thought about using laser to remove the tattoos. I didn’t expect that one day I might go back to work in Japan again when I got tattooed after quitting all the part-time jobs in August 2021. While doing this creative project, I have reflected on what my tattoos mean to me and gained further understanding of my life experience.
One day this April, I suddenly felt very nervous about my tattoos, because I realized that if I were to become a surgeon in the future, my tattoos couldn’t be hidden from my colleagues and patients. Then I told myself that if in the future, my tattoos, the green one specifically, affect my career plan, I can go to Xiaoai’s studio and get the skin removed, making my tattoos scarifications.
WORK CITED
1. Slide page 18
Excerpt from The Analects
Chinese Text Project https://ctext.org/analects/zi-lu/ens
2. Slide page 19
“Tian” and “Liu” in seal script
シャチハタの一心堂印房
田 https://shachitter.com/names/10253.html
劉 https://shachitter.com/names/9113.html
3. Slide page 20, 21
Poems about plum blossoms
https://www.gushiwen.cn/shiju/meihua.aspx
4.Slide page 21 Symbolism of Plum in China
https://asianbotanical.ku.edu/plum-0 梅花
5. Reflection
Tattoo as a coming-to-age custom
Chen Huawen 陳華文. “Duanfa wenshen- yizhong gulao de chengren zusu ji qi
biaozhi de yicun”断发文身 — 一种古老的成人卒俗及其标志的遗存[Haircut and
tattoos – an ancient come-to-age custom and the remnants of its symbols], Minzu
yanjiu《民族研究》1994(1)
6. Reflection
The article about Xiaoai
割皮纹身师小爱告诉我，女孩们用剥离皮肤的方式掩盖过去的伤痕“Gepi wenshenshi Xiaoai gaosu wo, nühaimen yong boli pifu de fangshi yangai guoqu de shanghen”[Tattoo artist Xiaoai told me that girls cover their old scars by scarification]
